Soldering 101... how many watt soldering iron for 12 AWG?

[stvjeep]

I watched Bob's soldering 101. I bought a 30W soldering iron. I have a Kontroniks Jazz ESC with 12 AWG wire. The 30 W iron is not hot enough as it will not melt any of the pre tinned solder on the leads. So how many watts do I need for 12 AWG?

[daijoubu]

Not a lot. 30 or 40 is plenty. A good clean tip is absolutely necessary. Let the iron warm up, about 5 minutes. Get a cloth and soak it in water. Wring it out so that it's wet, but won't leave a puddle on the table. When the iron is hot, using a good flux core solder, melt a little on the tip. You should coat the tip but not have a big blob. Wipe this on the wet rag. You have removed all the oxidation now. You have to do this for every joint you want to make.

Next, apply a little bit of solder to the tip, on the flat if you have one. Hold this to the wire. The solder will wick into the wire. Apply the solder from the other side of the wire. The wire should be sandwiched between the solder and the iron. You may have to solder a little closer to the iron and work up to the far side with stranded wire. It just doesn't conduct heat well if the bundle is loose. Once you see all the strands are coated, remove the solder and then the iron. Let cool. Do not blow on it. Do not move it. You now have a tinned wire. With practice this becomes natural.

Do the same with your Deans, but be quick as the heat of the iron can melt the housing causing the contact to move. Once the Deans cools, place the tinned wire against the tinned terminal, apply the iron to one side and when the solder melts, add a little solder to the opposite side. Remove the solder, then the heat. Don't pull the solder away, it's kind of a wiping motion. You don't want to create icicles that will poke through the heat shrink.

When you do the battery, remember do one lead completely first including heatshrink before stripping the next.

[Andy01]

I got a little butane kit - comes with soldering iron, hot air gun attachment, hot knife and mini blowtorch nozzle. It is fully adjustable for various heat settings and the little torch is good for applying a bit of heat to something.